Daevid Allen & Kramer (Australia/US)

Who's Afraid? (1993, 42.53) ***½/T

Thinking ThoughtsLoveWho's Afraid?ShadowBopera IIIPretty TeacherCall it AccidentSong For Robert

C'est la MaisonMore & MoreQuit Yr Bullshit

Current availability:

Shimmy Disc

Mellotron used:

Kramer's M400?

I don't know who came up with the idea of pairing on/off Gongster Daevid Allen and noted US eclectic producer/muso (Mark) Kramer, but the combination seems to work, going by their one collaboration, 1993's Who's Afraid? More Allen than Kramer, at least to my ears, it's a quirky collection of late '60s-esque psych, with plenty of acoustic guitar, almost-chanted vocals and the relentless electric repetition of Bopera III and More & More.

Kramer's responsible for the album's occasional keyboard work, including some wavery, high-end Mellotron strings on the title track which, while unusual, are nothing you desperately have to have. Given the year of release, it seems likely it's genuine, although early samples were coming in by that point. Quit Yr Bullshit's strings sound more like an old string synth than anything; definitely not a Mellotron, anyway. Daevid Allen fans will love this, Kramer ones probably less so, while the rest of us will probably sit on the sidelines wondering what all the fuss is about. Good, but niche.

Dot Allison (UK)

Exaltation of Larks (2007, 49.23) ***½/T½

I Killed the Monster: 21 Artists Performing the Songs of Daniel Johnston (2006)

[Dot contributes]Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances

Current availability:

Exaltation: Cooking Vinyl

I Killed: Second-Shimmy

Mellotrons used:

Both titles: Kramer's M400

Dot Allison is a Scottish singer who rose to fame via her involvement with the electronica of One Dove in the early '90s. Given that she's known for working in that style, it's all the more surprising that her third solo album proper, 2007's Exaltation of Larks, should consist of hushed, dreamy folky material, full of banjos, solo violins and Allison's breathy voice. The latter actually becomes a distraction after a while, as she doesn't seem to be able to sing this material any other way, but that could be construed as unfair criticism of a quietly beautiful album.

The legendary Kramer produces and plays various keyboards, including Mellotron, with uncredited strings on opener Allelujah and credited ones on Sunset and M'Aidez Call, all used to reasonable effect while never being in any danger of being lauded as 'outstanding'. Overall, a lovely album, worth pursuing by those of a folky persuasion, being far more 'authentic' than some of the bigger new names on the current British folk scene. Naming no names.

For Loved Ones & Lost Ones (2002, 36.57) **½/T½

I'm having trouble finding out very much about Alma; it seems they were a Swedish quartet, two blokes, two girls, specialising in a type of country/folk/pop. To my sketchy knowledge, they only released the one album, 2002's For Loved Ones & Lost Ones, a pleasant enough set, if a little samey, which manages to slightly outstay its welcome, despite its relative brevity. There's nothing specifically wrong with any individual track, but ten of them on the trot made me fidgety.

Tom Hakava (Ben's Diapers) plays Mellotron, with major flute and string parts on Everyone Was Right and strings towards the end of closer Flowers, to good effect. Just for once, I'm going to say that I feel it was used about the right amount here; it's easy to overdo, especially on an album as quiet as this. I've heard far worse albums than For Loved Ones & Lost Ones, but then, I've heard far more interesting ones, too.

Alma Ata (Germany)

Dreams (1979, 34.40) **½/T

DreamKeep onCome to Stay By MeNew Born BabyMetall AngelWelcome to NightTop of the Hill

Current availability:

Not on CD

Mellotron used:

Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock's M400

I can't tell you a great deal about Alma Ata; both Discogs.com and Krautrock-musikzirkus.de only list one album, so I suspect that's the extent of their career, such as it was. To be blunt, I don't think we're missing out to any great extent; 1979's Dreams is a bland, disco-inflected soft-rock effort, less obnoxious tracks including the Fleetwood Mac-esque boogie-lite of Come To Stay By Me and Metall Angel's mild twin guitar histrionics, although six-minute closer Top Of The Hill succeeds in being far less epic than we might hope.

Although he's only credited with writing lyrics, our old friend Klaus Hoffmann(-Hoock) tells me he played his Mellotron on New Born Baby, with a sympathetically-arranged high string part running through the bulk of the track, with a choir segment in the fade. Not only is this not available on CD, but I can't imagine why it might ever be, its style being about as unfashionable as it comes. Do you bother for its Mellotron use? No, you do not.

Herb Alpert (the 'A' in 'A&M') and his Tijuana Brass are one of the scourges of the '60s; the kind of stuff that your parents would put on, thinking they were hip, now cluttering up a charity shop/garage sale near you. Yes, some people claim that this kind of easy listening has a certain caché these days: they're wrong. Not cool then, not cool now; don't give me that hipster crap. 1965's Whipped Cream & Other Delights was one of Alpert's most successful releases, familiar to anyone brought up on this kind of stuff (not me, then), presumably making it ideal for an ironic remix project, Whipped Cream & Other Delights: Re-whipped (remixers credited in brackets). You can see this in three ways: a) as a welcome updating of a vilely dated sound, b) vandalism of the highest order, or c) doing something nasty to something that's already nasty. I favour c).

John Medeski plays Mellotron on his trio's reworking of the Latin El Garbanzo, with some typically skronky, pitchbent strings warbling away in the background, barely scraping a single T. If your ironic bone is twitching, you stand a good chance of loving these contemporary reworkings. If it isn't, I can only suggest that you move quickly in the direction of 'away', as this may irritate you as badly as it's irritated me.

Alrune Rod (Denmark)

Spredt for Vinden (1972, 41.34) ***½/½

Alrune Rod were one of Denmark's first psychedelic bands, operating between the late '60s and mid-'70s, producing six albums in the process, although the only one that interests us here is 1972's Spredt for Vinden, a raw, psych/proto-prog crossover effort with a broad blues streak running through it. This really is rather good, actually, standout tracks including opener Kom Nu, the incendiary Flyv Fugl Fisk and closer Gåseøje Fortsat, while the brass-driven Sammensang, while not amongst the album's best tracks, is unusual enough to be worth commenting on.

This album's up for the coveted 'least actually audible Mellotron on a record ever' award, with naught but a few seconds of background choppy strings on opener Kom Nu, although two gentlemen are credited with it, Mikael Miller and someone called Ivan. Is there more elsewhere? Possibly, but as with so many albums on this site, if it's there, it's buried pretty deeply in the mix. Anyway, a good album of its type, worth hearing for psych and early prog fans who think they've heard it all.

Alva Star (US)

Alligators in the Lobby (2001, 36.11) ***½/T

AdoreFallingUnhappily YoursThing for MeBeautiful74VictorianRevelation

Alva StarGirlfriend

Current availability:

Parachute Adams

Mellotron used:

Unknown

John Hermanson's Alva Star are a Minneapolis-based powerpop outfit, whose 2001 debut, Alligators in the Lobby (is that a Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas reference?) is an excellent addition to the canon, top tracks including opener Adore, with a repeating guitar hook to die for, Unhappily Yours, the laid-back 74 and solo-electric-guitar-and-vocal closer Girlfriend. Truth be told, there isn't a bad track here, although Hermanson's falsetto on Beautiful reminds me a little too much of the horrible James Blunt, even though that artist's similarly-titled hatefest was several years in the future at this point.

Hermanson plays Mellotron on their 'theme tune', Alva Star, with a beautifully upfront and very real-sounding flute line and string and choir chords, making it a pity it wasn't used a little more often. All in all, yet another great powerpop album, the only caveat being that, like so many similar, it has trouble standing out from the pack, despite featuring several memorable tracks.

Amazing Blondel (UK)

England (1972, 34.57) ***/½

The Paintings Seascape Landscape AfterglowA Spring AirCantus Firmus to CounterpointSinfonia for Guitar and StringsDolor DulcisLament to the Earl of Bottesford Beck

Current availability:

Edsel (UK)

Mellotron used:

Unknown

Amazing Blondel (named after Henry VIII's favourite minstrel, apparently), started life as an Elizabethan music ensemble, operating in the same vague sphere as Gryphon and Magna Carta, although they did it first, with albums such as their self-titled debut and '71's Fantasia Lindum. England was their fourth release, with the band down to a duo, and the first to noticeably incorporate contemporary instrumentation, although much of the album still has that 16th century vibe about it. To be honest, much of the material is a bit lightweight and forgettable, with the honourable exception of Cantus Firmus To Counterpoint, which conjures up the spirit of times past with aplomb. To be fair, this may just be a reflection of the era they were trying to recapture, but I find that side one, in particular, doesn't bear repeated listening.

Most of the tracks are backed by the strings of the Hopkins/Blondel Ensemble, but Terence Alan Wincott, as the band's resident multi-instrumentalist, plays Mellotron (credited as 'Mellotron?!') on closing instrumental, Lament To The Earl Of Bottesford Beck, although all that's audible is a few strings pitchbends behind the harmonium and pipe organ. So, not a classic, but some of side two is quite listenable.

Amazing Friendly Apple (UK)

7" (1969) ***½/TT½

Water WomanMagician

Current availability:

On compilations: see below

Mellotron used:

Studio MkII

Amazing Friendly Apple were a Leeds-based five piece, who only managed to release one single; there doesn't even appear to be any other material in the vaults. The A-side is a very British take on Spirit's Water Woman (not to be confused with Mancunians Pacific Drift's fiddle-led version from a year later), while the flip, Magician, is an excellent late-period psych piece. Organ, harpsichord and Mellotron strings, presumably from organist Barry Mills, vie with each other for precedence over Peter Waddington's strangely nasal vocal, as the song moves through several different parts in quick succession, reminding me slightly in places of Traffic's Hole In My Shoe. In fact, this could be said to be bordering early progressive; it's certainly more inventive than many of its better-known cousins.

You're unlikely to find an original copy of Magician, but it's apparently available on The British Psychedelic Trip 1966-1969 LP or The Great British Psychedelic Trip, Vol.1 CD, according to the excellent, and now sadly disappeared Tapestry of Delights site. I wouldn't say it was a 'Tron classic, but it's worth hearing on both musical and Mellotronic grounds. A quick word here to say a public thank you to the band's manager, Peter Brent, for providing scans and information. Interesting to note that the single even had a picture sleeve, as they were still a rarity in the UK at that time.

Oren Ambarchi, Stephen O'Malley, Randall Dunn (Australia/US)

Shade Themes From Kairos (2014, 67.44) ***/T

The (one-off?) Ambarchi/O'Malley/Dunn combo can almost be considered a Sunn O))) side-project, Stephen O'Malley being one half of the duo, while Australian Oren Ambarchi frequently guests and Randall Dunn also acts as an unofficial member and live engineer. The trio's album, 2014's Shade Themes From Kairos, is yet another of those 'difficult to describe' efforts: ambient metal? I know that such a thing exists; perhaps this is it. Drifting, formless, experimental music, like psychedelia taken to an extreme, maybe, or a black metal band tripping on the baddest brown acid ever. 'Stoner' doesn't even begin to describe it. Given that this is well beyond my conceptual level, which is essentially a fancy way of saying that I don't 'get it', I think three stars is reasonable enough; they seem to know what they're doing, even if I don't.

As you can see, a gen-u-wine M400 was hired for the Belgian sessions, Dunn bringing it in from the off, with quick, volume-pedalled, pitchbent choir chords in the opening minute of That Space Between, strings and flutes drifting in towards the end of Temporal, Eponymous and drifting strings and flutes on lengthy closer Ebony Pagoda, although if overall use tops a total of two minutes, I'd be amazed. One for the experimentalists amongst you, then, and, of course, Sunn O))) completists. Really not worth it for that Mellotron use, though.

Wolfgang Ambros is an Austrian singer-songwriter, whose 1975 album, Es Lebe der Zentralfriedhof, is a fairly typical mainstream pop/singer-songwriter record of the era, albeit one sung in German, which won't add to its non-German-speaking appeal. Is it any good? Not especially, no, although I've no doubt that the lyrics are meaningful and erudite; shame they're set to such dull music, really.

Christian Kolonovits allegedly plays Mellotron, though I'll be stuffed if I can tell where, as all of the album's strings are real and there are no obvious flute or choir parts. Maybe he didn't actually play one at all? Anyway, although this is actually available on CD, I can't really recommend it on either of the usual grounds.

Somewhere I've Never Travelled (1976, 45.48) ****/½

One Eighty (1980, 39.38) **½/½

ReadyShape I'm inKamikazeYou're the Only WomanRock n' a Hard PlaceLivin' on My OwnCryin' in the RainNo Big DealBiggest Part of Me

All This & World War II (1976, 3.52) ***/½

[Ambrosia contribute]Magical Mystery Tour

Current availability:

All titles: Warners

Chamberlins used:

All titles: band's own M1 (?)

Ambrosia operated towards the rock end of the 'progressive pop' field, rather in the way that Canada's Saga did a few years later, without really sounding anything much like them. Regular song format, good hooks, clever arrangements, interesting instrumentation... I think you get the general idea. Influences include Yes, Styx (who were still on their way up when Ambrosia appeared) and maybe Kansas (ditto); a very American sound, which keeps reminding me of Spock's Beard from two decades hence.

Ambrosia itself is a good album, if falling short of 'excellent', with standouts including Time Waits For No One, Make Us All Aware and Mama Frog, complete with Lewis Carroll quotes. Christopher North plays Chamberlin on several tracks, with flutes on Nice, Nice, Very Nice and what I presume are Chamby cellos on Make Us All Aware, but it isn't until Lover Arrive that it kicks in properly, with a beautifully arranged polyphonic flute part. Apart from a brief burst of flutes again on epic closer Drink Of Water, that would appear to be it, but as usual with the Chamberlin, I could just be missing parts due to a lack of detailed knowledge of its sounds. Either way, a fine album.

The following year's Somewhere I've Never Travelled (note English spelling!) sees Ambrosia at the peak of their pomp powers; an excellent album with endlessly inventive arrangements, often coming more from a soundtrack/stage show area than 'rock'n'roll'. Highlights are probably Cowboy Star and Danse With Me George, but there isn't a bad track on the album. Much real strings/woodwind, although it's been pointed out to me that there's a brief burst of Chamberlin flutes (and possibly strings?) towards the end of Cowboy Star, though the casual listener simply isn't going to notice.

By '78's Life Beyond L.A. (**½), North seemed to have been relegated from full-member status, only playing on a handful of tracks. The album starts well enough, but soon deteriorates into soul-influenced schlock. Overall, avoid. One Eighty's the only other Ambrosia album to have credited Chamberlin, but in all honesty, if it's actually on Biggest Part Of Me I'd be surprised; it's the nearest any of the keyboard sounds gets to tape replay. The album's a slight improvement over its predecessor, although there are two or three soul-influenced tracks that are rather hard to bear. The band are, surprisingly up to a six-piece, with North reinstated, but it hasn't improved their sound overmuch. I'm actually surprised they didn't manage to break through into the AOR big league; right time, wrong place? Maybe a lack of truly memorable material sunk them, although they managed one more album, '82's Road Island (***).

One various artists project appearance, with a so-so version of Magical Mystery Tour on 1976's dodgy All This & World War II, but with merely a few seconds of Chamby strings (admittedly underneath some great Taurus pedal notes), we're talking less than fully essential, I think.

So; Ambrosia and Somewhere I've Never Travelled are worth hearing, though the Chamberlin input isn't that great. The later albums are for fans only, to be honest, although there might just be a decent album to made from the three of them.